Sunday, July 25, 2010

Distributed Storage

Finding a place to keep the first run of the twenty Haulin’ Colin bike trailers I’ve commissioned has proven to be a challenge, so I’ve hit upon an idea that I believe may be an example of what one of my intellectual heroes, the poet, philosopher, and farmer, Wendell Berry calls a “good solution,” a criterion of which is that such a solution solves more than one problem at a time.

Here’s what I have in mind:

I’d like to offer a select group of interested parties the opportunity to have free use of one of the first run of trailers in exchange for safe and secure storage of it.

The deal would be that these folks would agree to be responsible for keeping a trailer at some place out of the weather and away from thieving hands; for this, each party would have permission to use it at will, just so long as they made a reasonable attempt to keep it from being thrashed—and with the understanding if the trailer was wrecked or stolen, then they’d have purchased it (albeit at the special screaming better-than-friend-pricing price of $575.00.)

The other part of the arrangement, of course, is that each person housing a trailer would agree to give it up at a moment’s notice should the trailer be sold (although, I would, of course, give them first dibs should they fall in love with it and want to buy it.)

The reason I say that this seems like what Berry calls a “good solution” is that, among other things, it solves two problems simultaneously: one, the difficulty of trailer storage and two, the challenge of getting trailers distributed as widely as possible.

I realize that danger here of someone not buying a trailer because they could use one for free this way, but I’m willing to take that chance.

If you’re interested in getting in on this, email me: dashap327@mac.com.